This invention relates to treatment of a patient's tubular body structures, and more particularly to facilitating location of treatment sites along such structures.
A variety of medical treatments involve needing to know a point along a patient's tubular body structure at which a treatment step is to be performed. As just one example of this, a tubular bypass graft may need to be installed in a patient's circulatory system. It may be difficult from outside the circulatory system tissue (and possibly other associated tissue) to find the exact location or locations at which either or both ends of the bypass graft should be attached. For example, one or both of these points may be located remotely and relatively inaccessibly in the patient where it is difficult to see. Alternatively or additionally, at one or both of these points the patient's circulatory system tubing may be surrounded by or embedded in other tissue such as fat or the myocardium. The recent trend toward less invasive treatments may increase the difficulty experienced by the physician in locating the point or points along the patient's body tubing at which treatment steps are to be performed.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to provide methods and apparatus for facilitating the location of medical treatment sites along a patient's tubular body structures.